Liam Scales reckons Celtic aren't that far off the level required to be giving teams like Borussia Dortmund a good game.
Tuesday's 7-1 defeat to the German giants raised plenty of eyebrows after Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers had spent the previous months emphasising that he was building a squad capable of competing in the UEFA Champions League.
Scales was in the Celtic starting XI against Dortmund and knows the Bundesliga side were extremely ruthless on home soil, punishing every slight mistake anyone wearing green and white hoops made.
The 26-year-old was asked whether the gap between the opposition Celtic face domestically and in Europe affects their performances.
"It’s probably a factor, but we have quality," the Irishman said during Friday's press conference.
"We played better against St Johnstone than we did against Dortmund, and that was the difference.
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"I’m not saying if we played better (vs Dortmund) then we would have won the game, far from it. It’s just about doing as well as we can and maybe being a little bit more secure at times and not as open.
"Tactically, they played well and the players they had were ruthless. It was a tough night all in but I don’t think that result will define us. I don’t think we’re that far off the level. I think that was a one-off bad result. It happens."
Celtic have to forget about what happened at Signal Iduna Park as they gear up to play Ross County on Sunday. They are still unbeaten in the Scottish Premiership, winning every game without conceding a goal.
"We have the day after the game to deal with it and it’s not nice, but we’ve started the season so well in the league," he confessed.
"We’re unbeaten and we’re doing everything right domestically. It’s easy to adjust and park the other night because of this game.
"I want to be part of the defence that keeps clean sheets and keeps winning games. Let’s see how long we can go on this run for.
